Meet the Pitmasters

Buz Grossberg

Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue

When Buz Grossberg opened Buz & Ned’s in 1992, he saw a food void in Richmond that desperately needed to be filled – with authentic, slow-smoked barbecue. After catching the “barbecue bug” and travelling all over the U.S., Buz was able to learn the secrets and tricks of the trade, and bring them back to the River City. In an effort to push back against the fast-food barbecue culture, Buz began serving up his famous “real barbecue.”

There can be a strong divide when it comes to what constitutes the best barbecue style, whether it be Texas, Memphis or Kansas City; but the driving force for good barbecue, says Buz, isn’t dictated by region, but rather by how it’s made. “I like all styles as long as they’re authentic,” he says.

To Buz, good barbecue happens before you get to the pit. It starts with the ingredients. “We get real food, all real food,” he explains. Buz will tell you how every item is made with care, how the collard greens go through a triple rinse and cleaning process, and how they only use fresh wood for smoking. The recipes, which he learned from his travels, and from Ned – a legendary barbecuer whom he met “at the crossroads that connect the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia” – are what you’ll still find on his menu today.

What began as a quest across America for barbecue secrets has turned into quite a large barbecue operation, but Buz still has the passion that he started with. “We pay attention to the details,’’ he says. “There are no afterthoughts here.” With all the barbecue methods stored up after all these years, it couldn’t hurt to learn a thing or two from Buz. He recommends that when looking to barbecue, always have an instant-read thermometer, and choose your heat source wisely: use natural chunk charcoal for your average grill to get that consistent low and slow temperature that you need.

Scott Bonds

TDs Smokehouse and Catering

Despite operating out of a rather unassuming shop on Patterson Avenue, TD’s Smokehouse and Catering is a barbecue spot that you do not want to pass up.

Scott Bonds has brought a lifetime’s worth of experience and barbecue knowledge to his role as pitmaster at TD’s, and it shows. His time in Louisiana and Kansas City afforded him all of the barbecue and Cajun food knowledge he would need to make the Smokehouse what it is today.

During his time at Louisiana State University, Scott says he was the go-to-guy at barbecues. “I was always the guy in charge of the meat, but I loved it.” Prior to that, he had been experimenting with barbecue on his own time with meat smokers that he received as Christmas gifts from his family.

TD’s Smokehouse specializes in the Kansas City style of barbecuing, and that’s due, in part, to Scott. “My main influence is Kansas City barbecue,” he says. “To me, that’s the mecca of barbecue” Kansas City style provides a sweeter flavor than that of the eastern North Carolina style found across the South.

Scott was happy to sit down and share some of his vast barbecuing knowledge. “A lot of people think barbecue is the sauce, but it’s the way you cook it. It’s smoked,” he says, adding that he prefers to use hickory and white oak to smoke the meat.

He also addressed one of the more difficult barbecuing endeavors – brisket, which Scott says is trickier to cook than any other meat. Because “it’s a tough meat,” Scott recommends marinating the brisket for 24 hours to end up with a tender and tasty final product.

Andrew Griffin

Deep Run Roadhouse

Barbecue has strong emotional connections with summer vacation and family time for many. Over the years, barbecuing has become a social event. It started the same way for Deep Run Roadhouse executive chef and pitmaster Andrew Griffin, but it quickly grew into a passion and a quest for culinary perfection. “Everybody likes barbecue,’’ Andrew says. “But few people do it well.” As he began to get interested in barbecue competitions, the TV show BBQ Pitmasters was becoming popular, and he thought, “I could probably do that.” So, he did.

In 2011, Andrew’s barbecue team won the state championship sponsored by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. He then went on to culinary school at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College to round out his culinary and business knowledge. He says he was focused on putting his all into being a successful pitmaster and chef. To Andrew, his barbecue at Deep Run Roadhouse is, “on a whole new level, above and beyond what you can do at home.”

Behind the countless hours of hard work and recipe tinkering, there remains a deep passion for barbecue. When asked what he enjoys about the long hours working the pit, Andrew says, “The science behind it is the most appealing thing.” Explaining that he’s in “constant pursuit of perfection,” he adds, “I’ve always loved that you can take something very inexpensive and mundane, and turn it into something amazing.”

Even though Andrew’s culinary knowledge has grown immensely since his barbecue interest was first piqued, the timeless principles of good and slow barbecuing still resonate with him. “There’s no rushing,” he says. “It only benefits from time and love.”

Steve and Kim Logue

Hogshead Café

What started off as a trial-and-error barbecue in their backyard is now reaching out to hungry customers up and down the East Coast. In testing out recipes for themselves and for family, Steve and Kim Logue have created a barbecue style all their own that has fans from Georgia to Rhode Island, despite operating solely out of Richmond. These travelling customers are known to periodically stop in to stock up on their variety of in-house sauces, and it seems that these customers are onto something.

Kim and Steve capitalize on their experience in a way that can’t be replicated. Most of the recipes are directly influenced by Kim’s Southern-style home cooking that she learned from her mother and grandmother. As a child, her discipline consisted of helping out in the kitchen – a punishment that seems to have paid off. With Kim’s recipes in hand, Steve was able to take his hobby of smoking meats at home and bring it to the pit at HogsHead Cafe.

Although their barbecue capacity has certainly expanded over the years, they still offer that comfortable small kitchen feel in their restaurant. All the meat is fresh, smoked every day and made to order. Even though it’s small, they’re churning out a lot of good barbecue. At any given time, there are 60 to 70 people on a call list for HogsHead brisket.

Steve and Kim offered up some advice for those who are looking to fire up their own barbecues this summer, “Keep it simple; keep it fresh, and stay away from frozen.” And in true barbecue fashion, they advised to keep the sauce on the side, and maybe have a few beers ready while things are slow-cooking.

Dickie King

King’s Korner Catering

Over the years, King’s Korner Catering has undergone a seismic shift from a small roadside barbecue operation to a high profile catering business with customers all along the Mid-Atlantic region. Dickie King has watched his small barbecue business grow into something truly phenomenal. He’s been the caterer and pitmaster for the Jimmy Dean estate, as well as for such events as the Old Dominion Barn Dance. He’s even become David Bridals’ preferred caterer in the Richmond area.

Despite all the accomplishments over the years, Dickie and his staff remain as grounded as ever on the founding principle, which boils down to treating people well. “If you treat people right, they treat you right,” Dickie says. You can see evidence of this in his small, but loyal staff, which he says is more like a family. Between the five of them, you’ll find over 120 years of combined work experience at King’s Korner. The way Dickie treats his barbecue crew most certainly extends to all of his guests, “I live to satisfy the customer,” he adds. “I like to see people eat, and I like to see people happy.”

As of this summer, King’s Korner will have catered over 1,400 weddings. At times, they’re catering five events in a single day. Dickie has turned his business into a well-oiled machine. Yet, even he admits that it was all built on the back of his simple and tasty beginnings: barbecue, chicken and ribs. Dickie serves up a smattering of sauces – Virginia, Western and North Carolina styles – to suit your tastes and to complement the variety of slow-smoked meats.

When asked about advice for those looking to perfect their barbecue art, Dickie’s says, “Pick the sauce of your choice, and stay with it. You’re not competing against others; you’re competing against yourself.”

Jason Harr

Extra Billy’s Smokehouse & Brewery

Jason Harr is the fourth generation in his family to be workingwork in the restaurant business and, over time, it’s become more than just a workplace for him., “It’s more of a passion, that you have to follow through with, than a job,” he says. His passion seems to be a family trait. Just , because just as he worked with his father as a kid, so, today, his daughter helps him on the job. Jason wants to ensure that those founding-family values are extended to his guests at Extra Billy’s.

Being a barbecue pitmaster comes with its fair share of long-hours and labor-intensive work, but Jason says it’s all worth it. “Seeing happy customers and the smile on people’s faces can make that 8 a.m. to midnight shift fly by,” he says. While those family values are a driving force in his work, it’s clear that he takes a lot of personal pride in his craft.

The smoker at Extra Billy’s is running all week long, burning one percent hickory wood to get their meats to the perfection that Jason is looking for. All of the barbecued meats are served with sauce on the side, because, Jason says, they take pride in their barbecue., “We let the hickory smoke do the work for us,’’ he says. “.We don’t want to disguise it with a BBQ sauce.”

One of Jason’s personal favorites at Extra Billy’s is their brisket. He says it’s the closest thing to a Texas brisket you’ll find. He’s discovered that good brisket comes from his patience as a pitmaster. “You need it to sweat it a little bit,” he says. “Once you hit your ideal temperature after smoking, wrap it and let it rest. , he says. “Resting time is key.”

Shawn Gregory

The Halligan Bar-B-Q Grill

"Firefighters work hard, and they play hard,” says Shawn Gregory, owner and pitmaster at The Halligan Bar-B-Q Grill. As a tribute to this lifestyle, he opened the establishment that takes its name from the Halligan Bar — a widely-used firefighting tool. But that’s not the only remnant of Shawn’s firefighter past that’s present in the restaurant. In the middle of the bar in their Short Pump location (2451 Old Brick Road) sits a 1967 firetruck that was once driven by Shawn’s own father. The restaurant is a welcoming place for both firefighters and non-firefighters, and Shawn says the firetruck is always a big hit with the kids.

Shawn worked as a firefighter for over 20 years in Henrico County, and The Halligan Bar was originally opened as a clubhouse for his firefighter buddies, but it was attracting more people than their first location in Shockoe Bottom could handle, so he expanded. Shawn is now serving up barbecue in three locations, and he couldn’t be happier, “I like when I go home and my clothes smell like smoke, it reminds me of my firefighter days.”

Shawn specializes in North Carolina-style barbecue, but he also offers Texas-style brisket, and Memphis-style chicken. His pride and passion for barbecuing has become a personal art form of sorts. “Barbecue (Did he really say BBQ or was it Barbecue?) is one of those things that’s very personal; 100 pitmasters would cook one dish in 100 different ways,” he says, adding that it’s usually all delicious, no matter your style.

For the budding pitmasters out there, Shawn says that one of the things that people mess up the most is trying to rush it. “Barbecuing is really a social event. Embrace the time, and keep it low and slow,” he explains. “When you think it’s done, let it go an extra hour.”

John Yohman

Jake’s Place Restaurant and Market

Owners John and Wendy Yohman have created something truly special at Jake’s Place Restaurant and Market — a restaurant that relishes what once was. They’ve turned this shell of a 1926 BP Gas Station into the Southern comfort food hotspot that it is today. A lot of time and love went into turning the building into Jake’s Place as we know it, and the same goes with their barbecue.

John, the resident pitmaster, says he has been playing around with meat smokers at home for years. After he retired from his career as a welder, both he and wife Wendy thought it was time to bring his skills to the people of Ashland. “My experience has been trial and error,” John says of his own style of barbecuing. After two-and-a-half years of perfecting his barbecue, he’s locked it down to a science. In the smoker room, John has recipes and cook times scrawled on the wall in permanent marker for the variety of meats he smokes and serves up. He’s even gotten comfortable enough with his methods to branch out with some barbecue fusion recipes. He’s recently introduced a “redneck egg roll” to the menu that features North Carolina pulled pork and collard greens deep fried in an egg roll.

When asked what brings people back to Jake’s Place, he simply replies, “People come back for the food.” John says that some customers are driving more than 45 minutes for the catfish — one of his favorites.

Personally, I think one of the other secrets to the success at Jake’s Place is that warm, welcoming Southern hospitality. If you’re looking for barbecue and a little dose of country charm this summer, you can be sure they’ll take care of you at Jake’s Place.

When asked for a tip for the home “pitmaster,” John says that aside from cooking the meat low and slow, there are guidelines you need to meet for good barbecue. “Get it to 190 degrees. That’s when the meat starts to really get tender.”